Table 1 Baseline characteristics by cause of death for women from the 1921–1926 cohort residing in NSW who died during the period July 2001 and June 2013
|  | Other N (%) | Cancer N (%) | Organ Failure N (%) | Dementia/Alzheimer’s N (%) | Diabetes N (%) | Influenza/Pneumonia N (%) | p-value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Area of residence | |||||||
 Metropolitan | 117 (69.5) | 140 (65.8) | 98 (65.1) | 68 (74.3) | 35 (71.7) | 15 (58.1) | 0.238 |
 Inner regional | 120 (22.5) | 180 (24.1) | 116 (24.1) | 49 (18.4) | 27 (17.0) | 31 (36.5) | |
 Outer regional/remote/very remote | 46 (8.0) | 62 (10.8) | 56 (10.8) | 21 (7.3) | 19 (11.2) | 5 (5.4) | |
Predisposing factors | |||||||
  aAverage age of death | 82.2 (3.5) | 82.6 (3.4) | 83.2 (3.7) | 84.5 (3.2) | 85.5 (3.9) | 82.6 (3.5) |  |
Age at death | |||||||
 Up to 79 | 87 (30.8) | 94 (24.8) | 60 (22.8) | 13 (9.6)* | 26 (32.7) | 13 (28.1) | <0.0001 |
 80–84 years | 122 (40.3) | 190 (49.5) | 115 (43.1) | 61 (45.9) | 29 (36.2) | 24 (45.6) | |
 85+ years | 74 (29.0) | 98 (25.6) | 95 (34.2) | 64 (44.5)* | 26 (31.2) | 14 (26.4) | |
Highest qualifications | |||||||
 No formal/year 10 | 212 (78.3) | 284 (77.2) | 199 (75.4) | 102 (79.0) | 67 (88.6) | 36 (72.6) | 0.223 |
 Post school | 49 (21.7) | 78 (22.8) | 51 (24.6) | 8 (21.0) | 8 (11.4) | 13 (27.4) | |
 Country of birth | 214 (71.9) | 280 (68.4) | 210 (72.6) | 112 (79.2) | 64 (78.4) | 40 (74.1) | 0.142 |
 English as a second language | 199 (76.0) | 264 (69.0) | 197 (74.0) | 104 (81.5) | 60 (81.3) | 37 (78.1) | 0.039 |
Smoking status | |||||||
 Non-smoker | 156 (56.6) | 205 (59.0) | 128 (53.0) | 73 (55.3) | 54 (71.8) | 29 (57.3) | 0.032 |
 Ex-smoker | 82 (34.5) | 109 (27.7) | 85 (34.2) | 46 (36.3) | 16 (25.9) | 12 (25.7) | |
 Current smoker | 25 (8.9) | 49 (13.3) | 38 (12.9) | 10 (8.4) | 1 (2.4) | 7 (17.0) | |
Alcohol consumption | |||||||
 Non-drinker | 98 (37.7) | 125 (38.4) | 95 (36.8) | 44 (35.2) | 37 (56.2)* | 15 (30.9) | 0.094 |
 Low risk drinker | 153 (58.8) | 209 (56.7) | 142 (58.2) | 78 (57.2) | 30 (42.5) | 31 (65.8)* | |
 Medium/risky drinker | 9 (3.5) | 20 (5.0) | 15 (5.0) | 8 (7.6) | 2 (1.3) | 3 (3.3) | |